Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo’s enigmatic red console

11 comments

1. Is this shocking?

2. This is one of those things I sorta forgot existed. I tried one when they first came out and felt like I was going to vomit almost immediately. That probably wasn’t their best marketing technique.

3. It never had a “rise” though.

4. I rented one when they came out (well, my dad did). You knew instantly it wasn’t going to go anywhere, but I still had fun with it? I think I found one in a pawn shop for $20 bucks like 15 years ago and bought it just to relive the experience. It’s neat, but like…Nintendo sunk R&D and a ton of man hours into something that was just a cosmic whiff.

5. I keep mine on display in my living room. It’s a fun conversation starter.

6. “rise” is extremely charitable

7. The little stand was so dumb. It was very hard to set somewhere and get the right height and play comfortably. Found out it was easier to just lay down on a bed and rest it on your head. Playing it for an hour or more made you feel weird after taking it off, your vision needed readjusting or something.

8. I remember the system coming out and thinking it was awesome but not worth the price. Then they discontinued it and Toys R Us did a “System and 5 games for $15” to get rid of them and I took full advantage of that.

   I still have it sitting around somewhere, but haven’t even turned it on in probably 20 years at this point

9. People think the Wii U was a failure but compared to this it was a massive success.

10. If you have a modded 3DS there is an excellent Virtual Boy emulator that plays the game in 3D. Worth checking out.

11. I tried this out in a Toys R Us once. After about 20 seconds, I felt like I was going to vomit.